It is a year since Reading’s first Police and Crime Commissioner was elected last November to be in charge of an area covering Berkshire, Buckinghamshire ad Oxfordshire, a population of 2.2 million people, and 4,200 police officers.

Reporter NATASHA ADKINS spoke to Anthony Stansfeld about his first year

Starting out you had a tall order of ensuring communities were policed safely while forces dealt with budget cuts. How do you think you have done?

Burglary in Reading has gone down by 40 per cent in the last year, so pretty well. Overall I am happy with the way things have been going and we have protected our front line services by reducing bureaucracy. That has been done through combining services with other forces.

You previously set out three main targets for the year – reduce household burglary, help vulnerable people and focus on child sexual abuse and tackle rural crime.

Given that the number of recorded sexual offences went up by 14 per cent in the 12 months up to June do you think you are achieving your second aim?

Yes. To tackle child sex abuse we are setting up multi-agency safeguarding hubs and there are 18 extra officers dealing with that issue.

The number of cases reported has increased because people are much more prepared to report them now since Savile.

Although I’m not happy the number has gone up in some ways the reasons are understandable and encouraging.

The aim of reducing rural crime has met criticism in Reading.

What do you say to people who think you should be more focused on crime in towns?

Two thirds of the Thames Valley population live in rural areas. I feel that is something that is often forgotten by larger towns.

I haven’t taken any resources away from major towns whatsoever, what I have done is draw people’s attention to the fact that rural crime is very often serious organised crime.

Often the people committing rural crime are the same people committing crimes in towns.

What do you plan to focus on next year?

The child protection area is still a concern, especially female genital mutilation.

I would like to see prosecutions in that area but it is particularly difficult for police to deal with unless doctors and midwives report it.

Turnout for the PCC elections was poor – only 13.3 per cent in Reading – how do you plan to tackle that next time?

The next elections won’t be in the depth of winter, it will be in May with other elections.

When I was first elected only seven per cent of people knew about PCCs, now that is up to 60 per cent.

Though a lot of people may not know the name of their PCC most people don’t know the name of their MP.

Earlier in the year you came under criticism for organising your finances in a “chaotic way” after an audit uncovered you made non-compliant mileage claims worth £142.20. Was that a harsh lesson in the realities of being an elected public official?

No it wasn’t a lesson because it wasn’t true.

What the paper didn’t print is that I was owed £194 in claims.

All that came out of the review was that I was owed £50.

You have recently received criticism from a Reading councillor over the police contribution to the Reading Community Safety Partnership (CSP) which was reduced by 16 per cent. What do you say to those criticisms?

It became apparent that the funding was very unevenly distributed.

For example in 2012/13, Milton Keynes, the largest town within the Thames Valley, was only getting £0.85 per head of population, while Reading was receiving £3.69 per head of population. I had to be fair and reduce it.

Councillor Tony Page, who is a member of the Police and Crime Panel who examined the figures, said on the radio that it was not the right forum in which to comment.

The Police and Crime Panel is exactly the right forum in which to comment, in fact that is largely its purpose.

West Midlands PCC Bob Jones recently publicly criticised the role. What do you think about that?

He is the only PCC out of 42 who has that view.

The bigger question is if he thinks it is the wrong job why did he accept it and why is he still accepting a £100,000 salary for it?

Do you think you are worth your £85,000 salary?

I earn considerably less than 21 people in my own police force, I get very much less than most NHS managers or senior council officers, so I think my salary is reasonable.

I run my office with my wages and it is still costing £½ million less than the previous system did.